Ophthalmic surgical apparatuses such as a phacoemulsification apparatus typically include operating controls for regulating settings or functions of the apparatus. Such phacoemulsification apparatus is particularly directed for surgically removing the natural, crystalline lenses from cataractic eyes prior to the insertion of an artificial intraocular lens.
Such apparatus typically includes a control cabinet, power supply, one or more pumps as well as associated electronic hardware for operating a multifunction handheld surgical implement in order to sonically emulsify eye tissue, irrigate the eye with a saline solution, and aspirate the emulsified lens from the eye.
In view of the handheld instrumentation necessary for a phacoemulsification procedure, foot controls are frequently provided in order to facilitate use of the handpiece by delegating other control functions to the foot pedal device.
Any number of foot pedal device systems have been utilized which included a variety of pneumatic and electrical actuators to control the ophthalmic surgical apparatus.
Improved foot pedal control systems, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,901 provide for a virtually unlimited number of control variations and modes for operating phacoemulsification apparatuses. Additional single linear and dual linear foot pedal patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,268,624; 5,342,293; 6,260,434; 6,360,630; 6,452,120; 6,452,123; and 6,674,030.
However, despite the output from such foot pedals in regulating or controlling the apparatus, the pedal must be user friendly in order to provide a surgeon comfort and reliability in its use so as not to initiate disruption of the surgeon's concentration when performing surgery.
As may be expected, there are many types of foot pedals, but no common way to program the settings that are available for each type. Currently there are static graphical screens that when a user presses a button on the display screen they are presented with menus to select different options to be programmed into the foot pedal; however, until the present invention there was no interface between the footpedal and the display screen to assist in setting the appropriate options for the user.
Thus, it is desirable to have a unified interface for achieving an intuitive way of programming any type of foot pedal attached to a system, wherein the interface is graphical in nature and can receive feedback from the foot pedal and display the information in real time on a display screen. The present invention fulfills that need.
Additionally, there is a need to immediately access multiple pre-programmed memory settings during a surgical procedure. For example, during a phacoemulsification procedure, the surgeon may need or want to switch between multiple pre-programmed memory settings to address issues arising during surgery, such as different lens densities, different situations, and/or different portion of the surgery, e.g. initiation of emulsification vs. cleaning/polishing the capsule. Prior to the present invention, the surgery had to be halted until the surgeon or user could complete the change. Thus, it is desirable to have a mechanism for accessing multiple pre-programmed memory settings and the present invention fulfills that need.